Since we can no longer go on organized walks or bike rides, I have decided to try doing a virtual city walk, via video conferencing. If you would like to join us, I will be starting a Zoom video conference on Sunday, April 12 at (or a little before) our usual start time of 10:00 AM. To prevent Zoom bombing, please send an email to citywalks@tbn.ca letting me know who you are, and if you are a TBN member or are on my unofficial walks list I will email you the link to join the conference (probably by Saturday evening). Since I only have the free version of Zoom, the video conference will be limited to 50 people.
The virtual walk will be similar to the real walks that TBN does during the fall and winter. We will start at a location, and using Google Maps and Google Street View, we will move around the city. We will stop to look at interesting things as we pass, including the usual stuff, buildings, sculptures, historic locations, etc. I will provide some commentary, and will have some screens of information to share along the way. I am guessing that walk will last about an hour.
Zoom allows you to control your microphone and camera. You can mute your microphone so that no one can hear you, and you can start or stop your video feed, so that people can either see you or not. I will initially let everyone control their own microphone, so we can have discussions, but if there are too many people, or if it gets too chaotic, I will mute all microphones. There is a “raise hand” feature that will allow people to request permission to speak. Zoom also includes a chat feature which allows you to send text messages to everyone in the conference, or privately to one other individual. Zoom is very easy to use, but you might want to download the free app before the meeting, and play with it a bit to get used to using it.
I was inspired to do this by Shawn Micallef’s column in The Star: https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2020/04/03/even-if-youre-locked-down-from-covid-19-you-can-still-explore-the-city-heres-how.html
I always provide information on appropriate footwear for the real walks (based on whether we are walking on sidewalks, gravel paths, potentially muddy areas, etc.), therefore, since this is a virtual walk, I would say that appropriate footwear would include socks, slippers, or bare feet.
I have not provided any info on coffee and bathroom breaks, points of interest, or early exits. I have also not provided a link to the route on Ride with GPS, as I don’t believe anyone will get lost.
If you have any questions, email me at citywalks@tbn.ca.
John Burdett – City Walk Coordinator
